I tear out of my property and down the road, going way faster than the speed limit.
The question of why keeps hitting me like the rough waves of the sea in a tempest.
Something whispers to me that there’s more at work here. The same fucked-up thing I sensed when I picked her up in Massachusetts.
This is about that, or the same thing as that. Because it doesn’t make sense.
Why would Harper leave UCLA before the end of the semester with just enough credits to transfer to NYU when she’d already suffered a disruption in her studies?
Why would she go to Massachusetts instead of heading straight to New York?
Josh was here for weeks. Possibly the longest he’s been around for a while. Granted, he spent most of the time with Lisa but I know what he’s like when it comes to Harper. He would have taken care of her if she needed a place. Chances are he would have kept his place for a little longer until she got campus housing.
Harper came and asked me for a job. And now there’s this.
Why?
Money.
She needs money. Girls like her only work at the Dark Odyssey if they need money. A fuck of a lot of it.
What does Harper need the money for?
I’m like a madman ready to breathe fire when I burst through the club doors.
I walk past reception and straight to the manager's office. I’ve been here for a few private parties that some of my crazier friends have hosted, so I know my way around.
Security tries to stop me but they take one look at me, recognize me as Asher Le Blanche and back the hell off.
I don’t knock when I reach the manager’s office; I just push the door open. I find a little woman inside with flaming red hair.
At first she looks at me like she’s about to argue but then she recognizes me, too.
“Harper St. John. Where is she?” The words come out like a growl.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Le Blanche, I’m not at liberty?—”
I hold up the contract and show it to her. “So help me God if you don’t tell me where she is right the fuck now, I'll shut you down and destroy this place.”
I might have a hard time shutting the place down because it’s mafia owned, but that doesn’t stop me from burning it right the fuck to the ground and starting a war with the mafia.
“Where is she?”
“She’s hosting one of the parties,” she explains with a slight hint of a French accent.
“Take me there.”
She gives me a hard glare then reluctantly gets up from behind her desk.
I follow her out the door and she leads me up the wide steps where you can see all the people on the dance floor and on the sidelines fucking.
The place is crazier than when I was last here and that was only two years ago.
“In there.” She points to a blue door.
I walk ahead of her now and open the door.
Inside are four guys and four girls. Including Harper. And the girls are topless.